How to bend a smoothbore barrel?

I took a M.L. rifle building course back in '76, and in '77, too. Each course, both years, were once a week in the evenings, and in a high school woodshop for a few hours each evening through a semester's time.

Along with his fine talents as a gun builder, our instructor was very knowledgeable on both old and new ways concerning traditional gun building and repairs. This very "bent barrel" question came up in one of our classes, and our instructor told us one way to straighten a barrel was by laying a pile of carpeting in a stairwell, and taking one GOOD whack on the barrel against the carpets. Then, it was to reassemble the gun, try it out on a target, and repeat the process until the gun would shoot true. Never had to do this, but I always remember the talk on the subject that one evening. He said the angle of the stairwell helped in the control of the "whack," by the "whacker." (FWIW)
 
Measure twice, cut once !!!

Not that I'd recommend that "fix" for yours though. I'm sure that it was probably done just that way though by many or our ancestors who needed to straighten their barrels. Not much different than placing in a vise and giving a mental tug.
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I have to agree and have read this in one of my books, dealing with what a Frontiersmen did. The wooden jig mentioned earlier, gives you greater control. Let's face it, how often does this problem come up? I have seen some folks do fixes like this that were not really needed. :cool:

If you have a good M/L bore light, you should/might be able to see the effects of a bent barrel. ...... :)

Be Safe !!!
 
If you bend the barrel, the front sight moves the same direction with the barrel. With no rear sight, how is that going to correct the gun shooting left? :confused: :confused:
 
If you bend the barrel, the front sight moves the same direction with the barrel. With no rear sight, how is that going to correct the gun shooting left?
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On the 1842, the front sight is not part of the barrel. It is part of the front barrel band.

Steve
 
Barrel

I have always wondered about the act of bending a barrel. We read about how easy it seems to do. A jig, the crotch of a tree, et cetera.....
How easy is it really? You take the barrel off and bend it - too much? Too little?
Put it back on. Check. Too little? Take it off. Bend again. Repeat. And so on...
Plus...barrels are round and maybe you bent it a little too high or low on whichever side. Rebend it again. And maybe again...
It just does not seem to be as straightforward as made out.
 
Steve

If you are wanting to continue to shoot the gun in NSSA you can't modify the front sight.

Here's something to consider:

Try clocking the breechplug just a tiny bit clockwise (way less than a degree). This shouldn't loosen it enough to create a safety issue. When I have to pull the breech on my 51 Cadet, the slightest offset on the index scribe lines will cause it to shoot a few inches off (high, in my case).
 
If you are wanting to continue to shoot the gun in NSSA you can't modify the front sight.
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Considering the current site is a-historical (cast-in steel), if I replaced it with the correct brass front sight I would not think it would be a problem to get SAC approval.

Steve
 
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